The mother of all cone zones: Reconstruction of U.S. 36 starts this week

Turnpike between Denver and Boulder faces biggest overhaul since opening in 1952

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writerdailycamera.com

Posted:
07/23/2012 11:22:58 AM MDT

If you go The U.S. 36 Express Lanes project groundbreaking ceremony, originally scheduled for Monday afternoon in Broomfield, has been canceled out of respect for the victims of the Aurora cinema shooting. There are three public information meetings on the project: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Broomfield High School, 1 Eagle Way 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hidden Lake High School, 7300 Lowell Blvd., Westminster 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at the West Boulder Senior Center, 909 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder U.S. 36 Express Lanes project PHASE I Length: 11 miles, from Federal Boulevard to 88th Street Cost: $312 million Estimated completion date: December 2014 BRT stations at Westminster Center (Sheridan Boulevard); Westminster (Church Ranch Boulevard); Broomfield (1st Bank Center); Broomfield (Flatiron/96th Street) PHASE II Length: 6 miles, from 88th Street to Table Mesa park-n-Ride Cost: $113 million (project still out to bid) Estimated completion date: July 2015 BRT stations at Superior/Louisville (McCaslin Boulevard); Boulder (Table Mesa Drive) If you find yourself driving on U.S. 36 between Boulder and Denver in the next few weeks, pause and take a quiet moment with your highway.

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Note the four lanes of warped and aging asphalt, the buses and cars jockeying for supremacy, the rush-hour train of tail lights that appears to have no end. Remember it well because it will never look like this again.

A three-year overhaul of the 60-year-old Denver-Boulder Turnpike between Federal Boulevard and Table Mesa Drive starts this week. A groundbreaking ceremony, which had been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Monday at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, was canceled Friday out of respect for the victims of the Aurora cinema shooting. While the Colorado Department of Transportation has not set a new date for a ceremony, work will proceed as scheduled.

Dubbed the U.S. 36 Express Lanes project, the 17-mile reconstruction effort promises to transform the highway into a sleek, information-rich transit corridor, complete with electronic signs displaying real-time traffic messages and a bus rapid transit system providing service that mimics the regularity and frequency of commuter rail. A managed express lane will be added to the two general-purpose lanes in each direction for buses and high-occupancy vehicles, while solo drivers will be able to pay a toll to access it.

Meanwhile, cyclists will get a dedicated bike lane in the corridor. Transportation officials tout the future U.S. 36, scheduled for completion in 2015, as a true multi-modal highway that gives commuters a full array of choices of how they want to get from Point A to Point B.

"This is the first time there's been a project of this magnitude since the road was built," said U.S. 36 project director John Schwab, of CDOT. "It'll look like a brand new highway." Four-lane work zone Getting to that brand new highway will mean three years of discomfort and discombobulation for commuters, as they are forced to negotiate re-routed lanes and move past miles of U.S. 36 rush hour traffic on Friday, July 20, in Broomfield. (Jeremy Papasso / Daily Camera) dirt piles and armadas of heavy equipment.

The current road surface will be completely removed and new concrete laid across all six lanes of roadway and 48 feet of shoulders. Meanwhile, five bridges crossing U.S. 36 will be replaced during the project and a sixth will be widened, requiring periodic shutdowns of the highway.

The Regional Transportation District, which is a partner with CDOT on the U.S. 36 Express Lanes project, will be improving six stations up and down the corridor, which sees an average of 72,000 vehicles a day at its west end and 124,000 vehicles a day around Federal Boulevard. The saving grace for commuters over the next three years, Schwab said, is that U.S. 36 will remain four lanes throughout construction.

"What might be uncomfortable for motorists is reduced shoulder widths," he said. "And we might see some slowdowns from people who want to see what's going on."

The U.S. 36 Express Lanes project is split into two phases. The first, at a cost of $312 million, covers the 11-mile segment from Federal Boulevard to 88th Street in Superior and Louisville. It is planned for completion in December 2014 and is being built as a joint venture between Ames Construction Inc. and Granite Construction Co. The second phase will continue the managed lanes six miles to Table Mesa park-n-Ride in Boulder and has an estimated price tag of $113 million. That segment's contract is still out to bid but is expected to flow seamlessly out of Phase I and wrap up by July 2015, according to CDOT.

Phase I work begins on the westbound side of U.S. 36, which will be temporarily widened to accommodate traffic so that the eastbound side can undergo reconstruction. Then, starting in the fall of 2013, the process will be reversed, with the westbound side getting its makeover.

Schwab said CDOT will be sending out extra "courtesy patrols" during construction to help clear accidents and breakdowns quickly so that traffic keeps moving. He also said bridge demolition will be limited to off-peak hours so that temporary lane closures will affect the fewest number of commuters. And the agency plans to launch an app that will provide users with up-to-the-minute information on road and traffic conditions and views from cameras mounted throughout the corridor. David Jurcak, a Broomfield City Councilman and general manager of the Omni Interlocken Resort, said he isn't too concerned about how road construction will affect his business. He said Omni's employees are well aware of the situation and have begun mapping alternate routes to work. His customers, he said, largely use the Northwest Parkway from Denver International Airport, and if they are on business in the Interlocken Business Park, have no need for U.S. 36. He said his weekend leisure guests coming from Boulder or Denver are the ones that might have to trudge their way through the cone zone to get to the Omni.

But he said improved travel on the highway once the project is complete in three years will far outweigh any headaches from construction. And that goes for the city as well as the hotel. "There's far more upside than negative for us," Jurcak said. "The upside is that U.S. 36 has this perception of being a very congested corridor. Once that stigma is removed, it will be easier to travel through." 'Transit workhorse'

Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor, who has been heavily involved in the effort to transform U.S. 36, said as recently as two or three years ago there wasn't certainty about funding for the project. Now with shovels about to turn dirt, what had only lived as a concept on paper is now coming true. And what excites him most about the U.S. 36 Express Lanes project is the transit-focused approach that gives bus riders priority over single-occupancy vehicles. Without a managed express lane, he said, added capacity on U.S. 36 would simply be met with additional vehicles.

"You are starting out with a 1950s-era highway and reconstructing it into a corridor that will work for multiple modes of travel," Toor said. "If you are just expanding the highway, it wouldn't really do any good because it would just fill back up."

He said the county's transit ridership is already a proven entity and should be encouraged to continue taking alternate modes of transportation.

"It's going to be a real transit workhorse for the residents of Boulder County," Toor said of the future U.S. 36. The improved transit will come from RTD, which is committing around $122 million to the project as part of its metro-wide FasTracks initiative.

Six stations along the corridor -- Westminster Center, Church Ranch, Broomfield, Flatiron/96th St., McCaslin Boulevard and Table Mesa -- will be revamped for bus rapid transit, a system in which buses travel along limited access lanes and stop at stations sporting enhanced canopies, seating, security cameras and ticket vending machines. A fiberoptic backbone will be installed along the corridor to allow RTD to provide customers with up-to-the-minute bus schedule information on electronic screens at stations. Nadine Lee, an RTD project manager for U.S. 36, said the project will include "queue jumps," allowing buses to get to the head of the line at off-ramps. Local buses will also be allowed to use the outside shoulder of U.S. 36 during heavy traffic so that they aren't forced to weave across multiple lanes of traffic to get in and out of the express lane. "They will have generally unobstructed travel through the corridor, and as long as the lanes are properly managed, they won't have to stop except at the stations," Lee said. She said dynamic tolling -- rates that change throughout the day depending on traffic conditions -- for solo drivers will help ensure that the express lanes don't get overloaded.

"That's the beauty of congestion pricing -- if the lane becomes too congested and affects the progress of the buses, then the toll goes up," Lee said.

And with buses no longer getting caught up with everyone else in the general-purpose lanes, FasTracks spokeswoman Marta Sipeki said, reliability of bus service should improve. She said travel-time savings have largely been achieved over the last few years with the installation of slip ramps and pedestrian bridges in Westminster, Broomfield and at McCaslin Boulevard.

A pedestrian bridge and eastbound slip ramp is under construction at Boulder's Table Mesa park-n-Ride and is scheduled to come online in March.

"What will improve is time reliability -- more assurance that the bus rapid transit vehicles will arrive at their destinations on time rather than being caught up in traffic due to accidents, weather and congestion," Sipeki wrote in an email. "The express lanes will allow for better traffic flow for bus rapid transit, thus making travel times more dependable and consistent." 'All about choice' Drivers will benefit from the project too, CDOT's Schwab said, even the ones driving all alone. The new U.S. 36 will feature Colorado's first "active traffic management" system, in which electronic placards posted every half mile will inform motorists about road conditions, lane closures and backups ahead. "When you're stuck in traffic, you don't know which lane it is or whether you should get off the highway," he said. "With the active traffic management system, we will be able to show the motorist where the blockage is. We're going to give as much information as we can so people can make the best decision about their commute."

Those choices could range from bailing on the highway, slapping down cash to ride the express lane or ditching the car altogether on the next journey and hopping on the bus or bike.

"It's all about choice," Schwab said. Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com. Copyright 2012 Boulder Daily Camera. All rights reserved. Print Email Font ResizeReturn to Top Daily Camera Twitter Facebook Icon * Follow our tweets on Twitter * Become a fan of our Facebook page * Subscribe to our YouTube Channel - The Daily Camera Close Forgot password? Please put in your email: Send me my password! Close message Login * This blog post * All blog posts Subscribe to this blog post's comments through... * Add to netvibes * Add to My Yahoo! * Add to Google * Add to Microsoft Live RSS Icon RSS Feed Subscribe via email Subscribe Subscribe to this blog's comments through... * Add to netvibes * Add to My Yahoo! * Add to Google * Add to Microsoft Live RSS Icon RSS Feed Subscribe via email Subscribe Follow the discussion Comments (32) Loading... Logging you in... Close Login to IntenseDebate Or create an account Username or Email: Password: Forgot login? OpenID Cancel Login Close WordPress.com Username or Email: Password: Lost your password? Cancel Login Close Login with your OpenID Or create an account using OpenID OpenID URL: Back Cancel Login Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout * Logged in as Admin Options Disable comments for this page Save Settings Sort by: Date Rating Last Activity Loading comments... Login or signup now to comment. You are about to flag this comment as being inappropriate. Please explain why you are flagging this comment in the text box below and submit your report. The blog admin will be notified. Thank you for your input. Loading... +10 Vote up Vote down jcm's avatar - Go to profile jcm 69p &middot; 18 hours ago It all sounds pretty good. Proof will be in the pudding. I quit taking RTD between DIA and Boulder when that trip took longer than it did for me to fly from St. Louis to Denver. Hope that changes, but I'm skeptical. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 18 hours ago Loading... -17 Vote up Vote down omahaslim's avatar - Go to profile omahaslim 84p &middot; 17 hours ago I wonder what the cost of the median bike lane is??? Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 17 hours ago Loading... +21 Vote up Vote down tsal75's avatar - Go to profile tsal75 70p &middot; 17 hours ago Bikeway won't be in the median. For more details, see http://36commutingsolutions.org/us-36-projects/u-... Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 17 hours ago Loading... +26 Vote up Vote down Bing987's avatar - Go to profile Bing987 119p &middot; 17 hours ago Hmm. They are adding a dedicated bus lane. I wouldn't think that it would be much more expensive to just lay rails and run a train over it. Anyway, if the final project will have the exact same two auto lanes in each direction, I can't see how three years of construction problems and delays will be worth the hassle. This will be like Table Mesa drive in South Boulder. That took about two years of construction and delays and when it reopened, it was exactly the same, except it had a new bike lane. All the same fatal left-hand turns were put back in place. Report Reply 3 replies &middot; active 5 hours ago Loading... +8 Vote up Vote down dukeschimp's avatar - Go to profile dukeschimp 85p &middot; 16 hours ago Is this bike lane the same one that got shelved a few years ago (completely separate from roadway)? I hope the planning process gives more weight to bicycle use than this article has. Otherwise is this just a much better road for buses with and with great signage. And NO TRAIN?! Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 16 hours ago Loading... +7 Vote up Vote down walongloop's avatar - Go to profile walongloop 111p &middot; 16 hours ago "Dubbed the U.S. 36 Express Lanes project, the 17-mile reconstruction effort promises to transform the highway into a sleek, information-rich transit corridor, complete with electronic signs displaying real-time traffic messages and a bus rapid transit system providing service that mimics the regularity and frequency of commuter rail. A managed express lane will be added to the two general-purpose lanes in each direction for buses and high-occupancy vehicles, while solo drivers will be able to pay a toll to access it. Meanwhile, cyclists will get a dedicated bike lane in the corridor. Transportation officials tout the future U.S. 36, scheduled for completion in 2015, as a true multi-modal highway that gives commuters a full array of choices of how they want to get from Point A to Point B. " A "managed express lane" and "full array of choices" sounds like code for soaking toll money out of any drivers willing to pay it. Nor do I see where it says anything about actually increasing capacity. For a majority of drivers, this will be a monumental waste of money and effort. Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 14 hours ago Loading... +45 Vote up Vote down snidly's avatar - Go to profile snidly -108p &middot; 16 hours ago What about the train we voted for?!? the idea was to get the polluting cars and inefficient polluting buses off of the roads so we could take the TRAIN to Denver... We already have buses, they suck and will continue to suck. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still just a pig. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 16 hours ago Loading... +26 Vote up Vote down AlmostNative's avatar - Go to profile AlmostNative 91p &middot; 16 hours ago A 'fiber optic backbone' to update bus schedule signs? Seriously? Do they really need the bandwidth that fiber optics delivers to keep the schedules on a few hundred signs up-to-date? RTD, remember your beer budget. Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 4 hours ago Loading... -2 Vote up Vote down sayhitoyourmom's avatar - Go to profile sayhitoyourmom 93p &middot; 15 hours ago I'm just wondering why they don't make it a six lane highway rather than earmark a lane for buses? Have they done studies of traffic flow with three lanes each way? Because I imagine MOST commuters would rather have a six lane highway that would considerably ease traffic congestion than be left with the same two lanes each way that we have now. Yes, I know, the idea is to encourage the use of public transportation. But as far as I'm concerned, the "solution" being offered by RTD (rapid bus service on an earmarked lane) is a monumental joke. How much time will it really save? 5-10 minutes each way? And whether they like it or not, traffic (the bad, non-public transit kind) is going to increase along that corridor in the coming decades. And people prefer to drive. They just do. This is another terrible planning mistake by RTD. Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 1 hour ago Loading... +13 Vote up Vote down CO_Mama's avatar - Go to profile CO_Mama 92p &middot; 14 hours ago "information-rich transit corridor, complete with electronic signs displaying real-time traffic messages" I hate this idea. It's clutter, as far as I'm concerned. More distractions to tell me an exit is 6 minutes away. Great. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 14 hours ago Loading... +18 Vote up Vote down Illusions's avatar - Go to profile Illusions 107p &middot; 14 hours ago 34 electronic signs from Table Mesa to Federal seems a bit excessive. 65 mph cars and a bike lane seems like a dangerous idea,. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 14 hours ago Loading... +22 Vote up Vote down velosnow's avatar - Go to profile velosnow 101p &middot; 14 hours ago What a waste. Build the train already, make the total area more bike-friendly and stop band-aid solutions by adding more pavement. Just look at L.A. It doesn't work. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 14 hours ago Loading... -2 Vote up Vote down mtn60's avatar - Go to profile mtn60 88p &middot; 13 hours ago 3 full time lanes each way is the way to go cause we see how getting everybody to ride the bus is working out. The train ? forget about it. That money is wasted elseware, we'll never see it again. The real joke is that existing express lane down to Pecos that is 'illegal' to use at all times other than rush hour if you are a single driver. Open it up as a third lane outside of the rush hour. It is the biggest waste of pavement to sit there at all other times not being used ! Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 13 hours ago Loading... -10 Vote up Vote down jdavis012's avatar - Go to profile jdavis012 100p &middot; 13 hours ago So Boulder is full of expert roading engineers today. Tomorrow it will be city councilors and park rangers, no wait that was last week. Report Reply 3 replies &middot; active 2 hours ago Loading... +15 Vote up Vote down In_da_Buff's avatar - Go to profile In_da_Buff 99p &middot; 11 hours ago I love signs that tell me it will be 12 minutes to McCaslin Blvd. Because if it was 4 or 22, I couldn't do a d*mn thing about it anyway. One or 2 signs for road conditions are ok, but this "4 minutes to next exit" and "7 minutes to exit after next" helps drivers how? Like we have an alternative highway to use if 36 is too slow? Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 5 hours ago Loading... +4 Vote up Vote down FeloniousMonk's avatar - Go to profile FeloniousMonk 78p &middot; 4 hours ago "Remember it well because it will never look like this again." Yes, and print out this story, put it in a safe place and read it again 6 months after this project is completed. Traffic will still be bumper to bumper during certain times and all of this construction will have become immediately obsolete with planners already having looked at the next project. Not a criticism of the improvements, just a statement of fact. Highways always infill to their capacity. Just look at I-25 in Denver. TREX added several lanes in each direction and it's still a parking lot during peak travel times. Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 1 hour ago Loading... +7 Vote up Vote down StewieGriffin's avatar - Go to profile StewieGriffin 93p &middot; 2 hours ago Just a thought. Maybe some of the signage could be motivational in nature to keep people stuck in traffic happy. Something like "You are a winner" or "People value your opinion" or "You are so good looking." Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 1 hour ago Loading... -1 Vote up Vote down TDSeven's avatar - Go to profile TDSeven 110p &middot; 2 hours ago ANother Phase I and then Phase II project with Boulder being the phase II portion ...... hmmmm I feel another screwing a comin. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 2 hours ago Loading... +2 Vote up Vote down youtoo's avatar - Go to profile youtoo 96p &middot; 1 hour ago Signs slow down traffic. There is always a jam next to the sign at 1st Bank Center. Report Reply 0 replies &middot; active 1 hour ago Loading... -1 Vote up Vote down nofreebeer's avatar - Go to profile nofreebeer 63p &middot; 55 minutes ago Buses suck! We want our train - now!!! Report Reply 1 reply &middot; active 20 minutes ago Post a new comment Enter text right here! 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